Browsers and Email Programs

[billbenson]

What are the preferred web browsers today, either for Windows or Linux?

Also, the same question for Open Source email programs. I used to use Thunderbird. What do people here like today? I'm starting from scratch, so I don't need to recover any old emails. I'm just using Gmail for most stuff right now.

[Harold Mansfield]

Hi Bill,
Moved this over to Software.

I use Chrome pretty much exclusively now on Windows, Linux and I have a Chromebook which is pretty much my all purpose laptop.

Firefox is the default on most Linux distros and I love Firefox. Always have.
Edge on Windows is a decent browser. I have no problem with it and it has a lot of great features. They've really done a good job with speed, ease of use and security.

For email, again I'm all G-Suite. I've used Thunderbird and Outlook and have no issue with either of them, they're just more email client than I need and Gmail is easy to access from anywhere, on anything.

Other open source email that I've always heard good things about are Squirrelmail ( which is my default for on a couple of domains) and Roundcube https://roundcube.net/ which I've never used, but have heard about for a while from the "techies".

Are you looking to do something specific? Concerns about privacy?
Or just looking to see what's out there and try something new?

[billbenson]

I've been out of commission for two years or so and just trying to figure out what I need to do to get my business up and running again. Forgive me if I am asking a lot of stupid questions :) A lot has changed and I'm just trying to get back up to speed.

I use Squirrelmail currently for my domain emails. It works, but I'm not a big fan. I also use Gmail. I just find that I don't have the flexibility with sorts, folders etc that I did with Thunderbird. It could be that I just am not as skilled of a user with Gmail and Squirrelmail. I am not familiar with G Suite. I'll take a look at that.

Oh, Harold, Interesting that you are now using Linux. What made you take that plunge, what distribution are you using, do you like it?

[Harold Mansfield]

I've been out of commission for two years or so and just trying to figure out what I need to do to get my business up and running again. Forgive me if I am asking a lot of stupid questions :) A lot has changed and I'm just trying to get back up to speed.

I use Squirrelmail currently for my domain emails. It works, but I'm not a big fan. I also use Gmail. I just find that I don't have the flexibility with sorts, folders etc that I did with Thunderbird. It could be that I just am not as skilled of a user with Gmail and Squirrelmail. I am not familiar with G Suite. I'll take a look at that.

So GSuite https://gsuite.google.com/ is just the business version of Gmail and Google Docs ($5 per user), and I run 4 inboxes through it. You can also use the basic ( one email address, less storage) for free.

No it doesn't operate the same way with folders, you'd primarily be using Google Drive to store and access your stuff easily. Which actually works out well because you're not storing them per device, which means accessing them from anywhere across all my devices. And it also breaks you of the habit of using email for storage and to hold contacts.

Using Drive (Cloud storage) takes a little getting used to, specifically when you need to remember to save something offline for when you don't have internet access. But that's also what SD cards are for.

It has streamlined what I store on my devices tremendously. Another awesome benefit is not caring about how much storage you have on each device. So now I have 128GB and 256GB SSD's in every computer (where I used to have 1TB hard drives) which is better performance, because I'm not worried about storage. Same with phones. I don't need to max out on storage and pay more. 32GB or 64GB is fine for me now and I don't even use that.


And if something fails? Big whoop. I haven't lost anything...replace the hard drive, reinstall, sign in and I'm back up and running.

For files that I need to store long term or permanently or access "on site" I have an 8TB NAS.

At least that's what works for me. I'm also not beholden to any Windows specific programs, so no matter what device I'm on, I can do business.


Oh, Harold, Interesting that you are now using Linux. What made you take that plunge, what distribution are you using, do you like it?
I've been studying Infosec and Ethical Hacking so I'm using Kali and Parrot Linux. I also play around with Ubuntu on a VM, and have played with Fedora which I'm not much of a fan of. I'll also USB boot Tails, and a few others to mess around. But primarily my studies and hands on is with Kali or Parrot.